Amrut consultant urges corpn to hike property tax

Asks civic frame to revise rentals of public belongings within the city
The London-head-quartered belongings consultant Knight Frank India, employed via the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has recommended that the Kozhikode Corporation improve property tax by five% yearly to elevate sales for meeting its improvement dreams.

The company, appointed consultant to the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) mission, additionally asked the civic body to prepare tips to levy on larger tasks specially for built-up region above 2 lakh rectangular feet. Height of the constructing, utilization of present public infrastructure and region should be factored in for this cause. GIS mapping and legislative acclaim for every year increase in tax price have been counseled to take forward the suggestions.

Praveen Subramanya, partner director, and Kamal Sreehari, member of the Knight Frank crew,who briefed councillors on the key hints on the company council meeting on Wednesday, additionally urged the organization to restoration leases of public assets along with the EMS Stadium Complex and Palayam Annexe considering the protection fees along side the earnings for the civic body. “As of now the lease the employer fixed was relatively low and the maintenance reputation of public buildings is bad, ” Ms. Sreehari advised The Hindu.

The corporation derives eight.45% of its sales via assets rentals. The hire from the Town Hall changed into ₹seventy eight lakh in the course of 2016-17; shopping complexes, ₹10.04 crore; hire of lands, ₹54 lakh, and civic facilities, ₹8.Eighty three crore. The hire collected via the agency for Muthakulam, Mankavu, Thiruvanoor, Kuttichira and Karuvassery grounds changed into a meagre ₹50 plus GST a day.

Market requirements

“Rents ought to be revised as in step with marketplace requirements starting from ₹500 to ₹5,000 depending at the area of the assets, volume of land, type of person and duration of utilization,” she said, including that the rent of grounds in Thiruvananthapuram (Putharikandam Maidam and E.K. Nayanar Park) ranges among ₹3,000 to ₹eight,000 for a day.

Ms. Sreehari said that the corporation must perceive properties which might be beneath-developed and redevelopment work ought to be taken as much as generate greater earnings. At present, the Kozhikode Corporation does no longer levy effect fee based totally on location of a task. Only one-time rate is accrued to pay for public infrastructure projects before the execution of the proposed development scheme.

Guidelines have to be prepared for regeneration of tasks having land pooling capacity. Special approval have to be taken for all conversions aside from the ones described inside the Kerala Municipality (levy and collection of land conversion cess) Rules, 2003 and the Kerala Conservation of Paddy and Wetland Act, 2008. The legislature could be approached for enactment and framing of recommendations over a time frame, she said.

In Kochi, Ms. Sreehari talked about, land conversion price is fixed on a case-to-case basis and is levied by using the city neighborhood frame. Special sanctions have been furnished based totally at the intensity of improvement and its financial importance to the town.